The Dangers of Road Trips
by shadowglove
Summary: Cousinsfic. When Lois turns 18 she takes her 16 year old cousin on a road trip that summer, going to visit the places sane people never would go to. This particular stop is to see the 'batsquatch'. This could not end good.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville.**

Short cousins!fic oneshot.

Written for my Paranormal25 150 Prompt Table. Prompt of the day#126: Batsquatch.

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"I hope you know, I blame this _all_ on you." Sixteen year old Chloe Sullivan glared at eighteen year old Lois Lane, her favorite cousin, best friend, and the girl who always got her into trouble.

"You can't blame _everything_ on me." The brunette tried to dodge some of the guilt as they walked slowly against the edge, faces dirty and cut, trying to keep pressed as hard as they could against the wall of the cave so that they didn't go plummeting down into the abyss in front of them.

"_Who_ was the one who decided that since _she_ was turning eighteen she had to drag me away from the happiness of my home on a road trip all summer to places no sane person on _earth_ would go to?" Chloe wanted to know, giving a little cry as the sound of wings could be heard echoing everywhere in the huge, innumerable caverns in the cave. "_Who_ decided to come to this little town in the middle of _nowhere_ because she wanted to see _Batsquatch_? WHO told me it was all fun and games and even though the locals warned us _time and time again_ that we were supposed to stay away from the caverns---_who_ said 'nothing's gonna happen'?"

Lois pouted, continuing on in her trek. "How was _I_ supposed to know the winged freak was real?"

"The half eaten carcasses we found while trekking the trails should have done the trick!" Chloe snapped.

"It could have been wolves!" Lois tried defending herself till the end. "There are _wolves_ in this area, you know! Or it could have been the locals trying to make this thing look real so that their little town could have some propaganda! **LAND OF THE BATSQUATCH**!" Lois exclaimed. "I thought----and another thing! It's _your_ fault we're stuck here anyway!"

"_My_ fault?" Chloe gasped in horror and insult. "How in the world is this _my_ fault?"

"When we saw the Bat from _hell_ coming out of the mouth of the hidden entrance to the cave I was just about to head home and forget all about this. But _you_ had to get yourself _kidnapped_!"

"How was it _my fault_ that that _thing_ swooped down and grabbed me and flew me back to its lair?!?!?" Chloe shrieked, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"You _obviously_ presented yourself as an easy target!" Lois decided accusingly.

"_WHAT_?!?!?"

An echoing, inhuman screech followed them.

The cousins exchanged terrified looks before hurrying their pace.

When Chloe had 'gone and gotten herself kidnapped' Lois had _admittedly_ been cool enough to charge after her without a second's thought. She'd chased that creature back into the cave, followed it into the darkness, through the many different caverns it crisscrossed, and she'd only stopped a second to grab a random, large bone, deciding that she needed a weapon when that thing _finally_ let go of her cousin. Which it had. In its nest. It'd dropped her onto the pile of feathers and clothes and camping equipment and it'd snarled, widening its swings as it'd charged the screaming girl. But then Lois had arrived, tired to the bone and yet furious with this thing and having a bone to _literally_ pick with it.

Chloe really couldn't remember much of what'd happened next, since she'd still been in shock, but there been grunts and shrieks and then Lois was reaching for her and dragging her out of the nest...and they'd been running faster than Chloe thought was possible. She'd realized that the creature wasn't pursuing, at least hadn't been at that time, and she wondered if Lois hadn't left it somewhat _concussed_ and disoriented with the bone she'd lost somewhere along the time that they were running. They'd gotten a good distance from the thing, at least _Chloe_ thought so, and since she hadn't really been able to get a good view of the directions when she'd been _swooped_ in, she relied on Lois' sense of direction to get them out of the cave before the creature (which was obviously up and about and _furious_) could catch up with them.

Lois, not paying attention to where she was going, screamed as she tripped on a stack of bones piled on the ledge, and began to fall.

Chloe caught her arm and tried to hold her up, and yet her cousin was too heavy for her, and with a scream both females tumbled into the unending darkness below.

They seemed to free fall for eternity, until suddenly water as hard as cement broke their fall, and they were under, and unable to breath, searching desperate for the surface. Chloe gulped in lungfuls of the water, terrified, head hazing as she tried frantically to break through, to find air, and yet all she could do was gulp in more of the odd tasting water and feel the fire in her lungs getting hotter and hotter, her head getting number and number.

She wondered, just before she lost consciousness, if Lois had managed to find the surface.

...

...

...

"Come on!"

...

...

...

"Breathe dammit!"

...

...

...

"Chlo...you...you can't leave me!"

...

...

...

"_Please_..."

...

...

...

Chloe gasped in a deep breath, jolting up into a sitting position, coughing violently.

"_Chloe_?" And then Lois had thrown herself at Chloe, hugging her tightly. "Don't _do _that again!"

"Lo? Chloe groaned, hugging her trembling cousin. "What---where?" Her eyes widened when she saw the darkness of the room was lit up by the millions of sparkling stones embedded in the ceiling and walls of the cave. They seemed to have a light of their own...even the water had a metallic green _glow_ to it. "_Beautiful_."

"I know." Lois whispered, wiping at her tears and sitting back on her knees. "I---what sort of place _is_ this?"

"I don't know." Chloe admitted, looking down at her own body, eyes widening as she realized that both Lois and her were glowing slightly as well. "What---?"

"Freaked me at first as well." Lois stood up and held out her lightly glowing hand to her cousin, helping her stand up. "I figured it must have been all the water we gulped down before we found the surface. It's glowy, so it being in us, I guess, would make _us_ glow too? But it's a theory in progress, so I'm opened to various interpretations."

"Just how far did we fall?" Chloe asked, going to the wall and placing her hand on a a shiny stone.

"I don't know. A lot. It took us forever to fall into the water...and then the water took us down into a lower part, we went down at least _tw_o different waterfalls...and probably would have gone over another if I hadn't managed to grab you and swim to the shore." Lois twirled around. "There's not one speck of light down here. Natural light, that is."

"We're in a _lot_ of trouble." Chloe whispered, looking around them. "How are we supposed to get out?"

"Um, while I was dragging you up onto the land...right before I did CPR, I noticed the lights were brighter over there." Lois pointed towards a small opening in the wall half hidden by a curve in the wall.

Sure enough, the light was brighter there.

The cousins shared looks before their glowing hands founds each other's and they walked towards the small opening, taking in a deep breath, not sure what awaited them on the other side.

"I'll go first." Lois offered bravely, going on her knees and crawling through the small passageway, blocking out most of the light until she emerged on the other side.

"Lois?" Chloe asked nervously when all she heard was silence.

"You've gotta see this." Lois whispered, in awe.

The blonde narrowed her eyes and pushed her fears aside, crawling through the small space and emerging through to the other side. She stood to her feet and brushed herself off and then looked up, eyes widening, matching her cousin's, as she saw the amazing sight before her. Gold grass lay all before her, and there were creatures she'd never seen before, looking like different phases of evolution, playing happily, not paying any attention to the new comers. Lakes of different, unnatural colors filled the air with the sound of water sliding over smooth rocks, and birds...of some kind...sang lulling songs.

There were also _bigger_ creatures that made Chloe wary, but they were a far ways off and also didn't seem to pay much attention to the newcomers.

Lois gulped, eyes on the sky, hand shielding her gaze from the glare. "Is that...what I'm seeing...or did I hit my head?"

Chloe looked up, pausing.

There were _three suns_.

One over different parts of this vast underground world.

Currently the girls were under the red one.

But there was a blue one and a silver one as well.

"Where _are_ we?" Lois whispered. "Was there some sort of _portal_ or something that we went through?"

Chloe could only shrug, eyes wide.

She'd---she'd read stories like this...but they were all fiction...and she---she just couldn't think clearly.

"Hey Chlo?" Lois didn't take her shielded gaze from the sky.

"Yeah, Lo?" Chloe asked, gaze going to the large, luscious tree, and the creatures playing on it.

"If we get home...which story do you think people are going to find hardest to believe?" Lois asked. "This one? Or Batsquatch?"

"Good question." Chloe whispered as their hands reached for and found the other's once again. "_Very_ good question."

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**review?**


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